Communists add fuel to price hike protests

TNNJun 14, 2006, 01.52am IST

NEW DELHI: After the BJP, it was the turn of the Left and non-NDA parties like the Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam and Asom Gana Parishad to hit the street against the UPA government's fuel price hike on Tuesday.

Protests which erupted in parts of the country also saw Left leaders including CPM and CPI general secretaries Prakash Karat and AB Bardhan courting arrest over the price hike.

The protests had its maximum impact in the Left-controlled state of Kerala which had announced a dawn to dusk bandh and to a lesser extent in West Bengal. It was also successful in Uttar Pradesh where the ruling Samajwadi Party's workers tried to enforce the bandh by stopping trains and blocking highways.

In the Capital, the Left parties, accompanied by SP, Janata Dal-Secular and Rashtriya Lok Dal supporters, staged protests to demand a total roll-back of the petroleum price hike. After warning the government against taking the Left's support for granted, the leaders along with a large number of activists courted arrest at the Parliament Street police station.

Apart from Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury of the CPM, Abani Roy of the RSP and Debabrata Biswas of the Forwad Bloc courted arrest.

Left leaders mounted pressure on the government to reverse its "anti-people" decision and said the issue would be raised at the UPA-Left co-ordination committee meeting on 15 June. Addressing the rally, Mr Karat dubbed the move by Congress-led state governments to reduce state-level taxes on petrol and diesel as "foolishness".

He asked the Centre to first reduce taxes to make fuel cheaper instead of passing the entire burden on to the states. Mr Bardhan made light of the claims of the government about inflation and price indices. "Prices of all essential commodities are increasing. Still the government says inflation and prices of essential commodities are under control," he said.

In Uttar Pradesh, long-distance trains were stranded as Samajwadi Party workers squatted on the tracks and stray incidents of violence occurred when the protesters forcibly closed down shops and businesses. SP workers also blocked the arterial Grand Trunk road and the Lucknow highway.

In Tamil Nadu, over 5,000 Left activists, including CPI secretary D Raja, were taken into custody when they picketed in front of central government offices and roads.

In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP and the CPM held protest rallies in Hyderabad and several other district headquarters. TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu participated in a "cycle rally" with a large number of his party workers.

There were also protests by Left supporters in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. The Punjab Truck Operators Union also held protest demonstrations against the fuel price hike.

Strikes by truckers against the price hike coincided with the protests and affected transport services in Orissa, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh.